Belle The Babysitter
by CasMyAssbutt
Summary: Rumbelle & Nelle (Mini-Neal & Belle! So much cuteness!): Haven't you heard? Belle is a natural with babies.


**a/n - **I only actually got around to watching the new episodes today, so. BUT OH MY GOD I LOVE THE IDEA OF NEAL GROWING UP WITH BELLE AS HIS COOL, BOOKWORM BABYSITTER.

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"Of course! Don't be silly! I'd love to be your babysitter!" Mary Margret nods along while Belle beams happily.

"But, really, we don't want to pressure you. I mean, babies are a handful and—"

"Mary Margret, the girl is happy to do it." David swings a hand around his wife's neck. "And we would be _more_ than happy to let her." Mary Margret sighs and relaxes in her husband's embrace.

Belle raises her eyebrows and pushes up her bottom lip. "Aw! You're so cute together!" She claps her hands together and swings around grabbing her handbag. "I'll pop to my house, change, then be right back!"

She rushes out the door, giggling. She's never sat a baby before.

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"What are you—umph—" She bumps into Rumple on her way over to her handbag to dump in the easy-reader books. She wraps her scarf messily around her head, slips her arms through her coat, picks up her bag and skips to the door.

"I'm going to sit a baby!" She calls excitedly over her shoulder as she slams the door.

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She flings the Charming's door open and it claps against the wall. "Oops, sorry!" Beaming, she rushes over to the counter plopping down her handbag and raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"Your coat is on back to front." David prods the label sticking out on the back of her neck teasingly. She blushes. He laughs and places his hands on her shoulders. "Here, let me take that for you."

"So, where's your daughter?"

"It's a boy."

Belle isn't the least bit disheartened as she waves off her mistake. "Where's your son?"

"He's in his cot but after this nap he'll be a terror to get down again so—"

"What's his name?" She claps her hands excitedly.

David smiles and says, "We actually named him in honour of your husband's son."

"You named him Baelfire? That's so sweet!"

"Uh, no, Neal." Belle smiles apologetically at Mary Margret.

"Ah," she nods her head. "There's quite a large difference in names here, isn't there? I'm not sure which I like better. I suppose Belle!Me would consider names like Baelfire and Rumplestiltskin to be normal and then Lacey!Me would—well, she'd just have a beer and not really care about fairytales and happy endings and—" Belle's laugh turns awkward quickly when she realises she's rambling. She licks her lips and then smiles at them. "So, you're going driving?"

"Hiking, actually." David smiles at his wife.

"Oh, out in the woods. Snow and Charming back together again, saving people, hunting things—" Belle freezes and waves her palms back and forth. "Or, not. I'm sure the hike will be very relaxing and just what young parents need after having a baby. You'll have a nice break, maybe even a KitKat—still not sure what exactly that is but you'll—you'll have it." She nods enthusiastically. "Everyone needs a break! You know, it's obviously hard raising a baby—especially with evil Snow Queens and witches wanting to use your baby to travel back in time and—and whatnot." Belle cringes. "You probably didn't need a reminder of that."

David spends the next half an hour convincing Mary Margret to actually leave the house. Belle introduces herself to the baby and cradles the cute little man in her arms.

"Hello, Neal." She smiles down at him. "My name is Belle. Belle French. But you can just call me Belle. Or, Lacey, I guess. Though I wouldn't like it if you called me that. Bad memories." She flinches at the thought of those tight, tight dresses. "But I'm mostly Belle anyway so—well, that's probably confusing. I don't know if anyone has told you about the curse yet—curse_s_ actually—but well, Regina—she's the nice evil queen, or, well, _now_ she is—anyway, Regina was heartbroken so she cursed our entire world to get revenge on Snow White and—wow, I've never really thought about it but Regina is, like, the most powerful witch ever. I mean, she cursed an entire world and then saved everyone that she had cursed before when the second curse came—somebody should give her a medal—or the Noble Peace Price! Though, I guess people with such a high body count aren't eligible."

"Belle, we're going!" David calls and Belle looks up to nod excitedly at him.

"The emergency numbers are on the fridge, the table, the back of the door, the stairs, the—" David pushes his wife gently through the door before closing it and Belle chuckles silently at them.

"Alright, Mini-Neal, just you and me now." She smiles wholeheartedly at him. She sighs and loses her smile. "I miss Big-Neal." She whispers, tapping his soft, chubby cheek. He makes a little noise and she smiles again.

"Alright, where was I? Hmm?" She caresses his little arm. "Something about Regina—oh, yes! Regina is hella powerful." Belle giggles, remembering her adventure on Tumblr the night before. She had looked up ideas for decorating her library and that's how she found it. It was very educational, and had very beautiful pictures—and _so_ many books! "But not as much as my Rumple. Sometimes I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing but," she sighs wistfully, "If my heart says jump, I leap. Don't worry, Mini-Neal, I think we're good now. I think—I think Rumple is finally letting himself be happy and it—it makes _me_ happy."

Belle wiggles her finger and Neal tries to catch it.

"Anyway," she continues softly, "There was a curse, your mother and father were separated—but they found each other again! They'll always find each other. But I'm sure you've heard that one a million times. So, anyway, there was a curse and everyone had their memories erased and new ones planted in—to their heads. Um, it was confusing. You didn't realise you were on repeat. That you were living the same day over and over again. When Emma—your sister—broke the curse it was like waking up. Like it had all been a bad dream. But when you were cursed and you remembered—well, you remembered the _wrong_ memories but, still, they were so _real_. It was hard to believe. Like, it could be a trick. Like, you were watching a fairytale except you were feeling and the fairytale was not a very nice one all—all the time."

Belle smiles softly down at the baby. "But you're just a baby. You have your own fairytale to live yet. It will be a great one." Belle nods. "You'll see."

The door suddenly swings open. "I couldn't do it! I'm sorry, Belle!" Belle laughs and hands Mary Margret her baby.

"I didn't get to do as much sitting as I'd hoped but—next time?" Mary Margret smiles warmly at her and nods.

"Next time."

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"Did the sitting go as planned?" She mock glares at Rumple lying in bed, reading the newspaper.

"I love babies." Belle says cheerfully, unzipping her dress then shimmying out of it.

"Well, keep going like that and we'll end up making one." She rolls her eyes but doesn't disagree.

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End file.
